The 2016 Wabash cross country team will look to improve on its eighth place finish at the 2015 NCAA DIII National Championships.

"We lose two of the top-three runners from nationals last year," second-year head coach Dr. Colin Young said. "But guys have improved and we have some freshmen who will make an impact. The team has high expectations for this season.

"The keys are consistency, staying healthy, coming together as a team, hard work, confidence, and patience. This is an experienced group that is cohesive and motivated to achieve. They also enjoy the process of training and racing together."

As a team, Wabash won the Indiana Intercollegiate meet and the NCAA Great Lakes Regional in 2015, both held in Terre Haute, Indiana. The Little Giants captured a second-place finish at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, a fourth-place finish out of 36 teams at the Greater Louisville Classic, and fifth place out of 45 team entries at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Invitational. 

"All the meets are important as benchmarks to see how we are getting better and how we can improve," Young said. "We are especially focused on doing our best at nationals. We need to qualify for nationals with a strong performance at the regional. Conference is (also) a meet we want to go after."

Fabian House, Jared Santana, and Adam Togami all graduated in May, but Coach Young believes his 2016 Little Giants will step up into leadership roles.

"All the student-athletes are expected to be leaders," he said, "The team selected Mason McKinney and Murphy Sheets as captains. These two have led by example with their hard work positive attitudes and have consistency reached out to build up their teammates."

Colin Rinne returns after placing 52nd out of a field 0f 278 runners at last year's Division III national championship meet. McKinney raced to 106th place at nationals, while sophomore Dominic Patacsil scored 84 points with his 114th-place finish in his freshman season. Cordell Lewis and Luke Doughty return to the Wabash lineup, as well, after competing at nationals last season for Wabash.

Sheets scored a top-40 finish at the NCAC conference championship race. Fellow senior Free Kashon also competed at the NCAC race, as did juniors Andrew Brake, Aaron Tincher, and Jonah Woods. Eight freshmen will add their talents to the Red Pack roster for the 2016 season, as well.

The season begins with the Charlie Finch '51 Alumni Meet is on August 27 beginning at 10 a.m. at the J. Owen Huntsman track.